Hey guys, I am very interested in your replies to this matter as I feel it’s a nice topic as it revolves around two of the most awesome marketplaces (themeforest and codecanyon, although other marketplaces are just as awesome :P)

Over the past few years we’ve seen a surge in mobile popularity. Ever since Apple really started pushing their mobiles devices (iPhone, iPad and iPad) other competitors have followed suit, which has opened up a rather popular market. (please don’t flame me for choosing Apple :P)

From a developers point of view, this is a complete nightmare. The more devices there are means the more browsers which means the more expectation there is that your product will support their favourite browser or device.

Lets consider Mozilla, as they are the most appropriate example for this. Just over the past year we’ve seen a massive surge of firefox releases. We have Firefox 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and more. Now, when you think about it like that, that’s a huge amount of releases. When developers think about writing a theme or a script, I don’t think I’m wrong in thinking that browser compatibility is pretty key into making sure your script is universal and works in users most favourite browsers. And that getting it to work in those releases plus the other browsers makes it a rather daunting task. The problem with Mozilla’s release cycle is that every time a new “version” comes out I have to check all my products or websites to ensure that nothing has broken, and if it has, taking the time to figure out how to fix it.

The point is, where do we draw the line? In today’s modern world users just expect things to work no matter what they are using. I personally find the prospect about supporting a plethora of browsers a real pain in the bum to ensure that nothing breaks between releases and that when I do change code, it doesn’t break already existing browser support.

Needless to say, this doesn’t look set to ease any time soon. For example, themes or scripts might need to be adjusted to support the iPad 3’s new screen resolution for mobile-formatted websites. Additionally, extra code or tweaks may be required for future browsers that are released if something breaks.

So what’s your view on this subject? Do you take browser compatibility to be essential or do you try to support as many as you can? What about when a new browser update comes out, as this in the future could render your template obsolete and defunct.

I agree. It’s going to be harder in the future to create a site that works for everyone because of the different devices out there.

When you see a problem, the best way to solve it is to get to the root of it. The root of this problem is the companies that are creating the browsers. They should focus more on backwards compatibility when releasing a new version. How many thousands of hours would this save website designers/developers? A lot!

iapcsolutions said
I agree. It’s going to be harder in the future to create a site that works for everyone because of the different devices out there.
When you see a problem, the best way to solve it is to get to the root of it. The root of this problem is the companies that are creating the browsers. They should focus more on backwards compatibility when releasing a new version. How many thousands of hours would this save website designers/developers? A lot!

Exactly this! Mozilla have ploughed on ahead leaving developers in their trail. We’re having to catch up and it’s unhealthy for developers to be spending large periods of time trying to fix up issues in x browser versions when we could be better supporting our product or enhancing with new features.

You’re probably going to have some great answers from people who works with this daily but here’s my point of view. I used to do webdesign about 10 years ago. Til this day I remember the pain it was with different browsers. Don’t really know how it is today but I can imagine that it’s about the same. Especially with legend compability.

Now I’m in the mobile game business. If I understand it correctly Android phones have different resolutions. That must be a pain in the a**. Most of my games are iOS, though some has been ported to other platforms. Web as well.

I think that you have to compromise no matter what industry you’re in. I create audio, with no idea about how the listener will hear my sounds. Internal speakers or one of the thousands of headphones there is? Generally all the sounds HAS to be able to be heard in the internal speakers. That means no low-bass-only sound.

On topic again , I always asked myself what the primary audience was. Younger people tend to update to the latest browser than an older crowd. It also depends on the client. Do they have enough money to cover the hours it will take to make something compatible with every browser/version? Look at EA for example, they’re shutting down servers for games that don’t have as many players anymore. That’s just it, you can’t hang on to the old forever, unless there’s still a demand for it.

Cross browser issues is the #1 reason I started working with Flash back in the day. But in today’s envonment, it is what it is and it’s definately tough adding mobile to the equation. But mobile has become just as important to clients as desktops so you have to build/test for it. Luckily it’s 90% iPhone/iPad, and 10% everything else in terms of client demand. So you don’t really have to own a hundred devices for testing….yet. Maybe 100% liquid is the future, but that would be kind of sad.

and in the meantime prices have not increased for themes or templates…mmm… anyone ever think of the extra time we input compared to just a year ago? Are we compensated for it in any way…nope. Themeforest needs to be more flexible with pricing and everything needs a bump imo – even buyers tell us this.

jonathan01 said
and in the meantime prices have not increased for themes or templates…mmm… anyone ever think of the extra time we input compared to just a year ago? Are we compensated for it in any way…nope. Themeforest needs to be more flexible with pricing and everything needs a bump imo – even buyers tell us this.
Jonathan

Not to mention that in the real world there is stable inflation each year. Themes should be 39 $ by now.

jonathan01 said
and in the meantime prices have not increased for themes or templates…mmm… anyone ever think of the extra time we input compared to just a year ago? Are we compensated for it in any way…nope. Themeforest needs to be more flexible with pricing and everything needs a bump imo – even buyers tell us this.
Jonathan

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